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The morning started off like any other, I woke up, got dressed, and decided to make a morning run to McDonald's before school. Now this run was clearly what made me late to school but it was worth something. On my way to school I always turn on "94.1 The Beat" to listen to their morning discussions. This mornings discussion was different from most. The Executive Director got on the air and said, "Parents: this morning's talk is about abortion so if you do not want you children to listen here is a minute warning to change the channel."
The discussion started off with Parr introducing the issue as a response to The New York Times article that stated black women make up 40% of abortions while blacks (as a whole) only make up 13% of the nation's population. Parr spoke briefly on the issue but it was mainly open to listeners to call in and give their comments. One women said, "I do not believe in abortion or birth control -- I am just going to tell my daughters DON'T have sex." Now see comments like this would be great if this were a perfect world, but it's not, and in reality when you tell someone something there is a very likely chance they will not listen to you. Which is why people should be able to make decisions for themselves. They made the decision to have sex, so they should be able to make the decision as to protect themselves with the given consequences. Another called in "Jane" and said her best friend had 3 abortions and they are in medical school and she stated that even though she had a legit reason she still would prefer it if her friend protect herself another way (by using contraceptives) and not just "Trial and Error." Unfortunately this is when I had to sign out, but the overall issue was even though we are in 2010 we still have people who are stuck in the 1900's who feel that if you tell you children or friends to not have sex or protect themselves they will listen. However mistakes happen and people should be given the chance to fix them (should that be there decision).
The discussion started off with Parr introducing the issue as a response to The New York Times article that stated black women make up 40% of abortions while blacks (as a whole) only make up 13% of the nation's population. Parr spoke briefly on the issue but it was mainly open to listeners to call in and give their comments. One women said, "I do not believe in abortion or birth control -- I am just going to tell my daughters DON'T have sex." Now see comments like this would be great if this were a perfect world, but it's not, and in reality when you tell someone something there is a very likely chance they will not listen to you. Which is why people should be able to make decisions for themselves. They made the decision to have sex, so they should be able to make the decision as to protect themselves with the given consequences. Another called in "Jane" and said her best friend had 3 abortions and they are in medical school and she stated that even though she had a legit reason she still would prefer it if her friend protect herself another way (by using contraceptives) and not just "Trial and Error." Unfortunately this is when I had to sign out, but the overall issue was even though we are in 2010 we still have people who are stuck in the 1900's who feel that if you tell you children or friends to not have sex or protect themselves they will listen. However mistakes happen and people should be given the chance to fix them (should that be there decision).
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by Anatic09
You bring up a great point! Thanks for talking about this. Many people in GA have been talking about abortion in the black community here recently with the hideous billboards around Atlanta (reference Sarah's post: http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/u/AFY_Sarah/2010/2/5/Dear-Georgia-Right-to-Life-You-have-no-clue-what-youre-talking-about ).
I think the real issue that we SHOULD be talking about is access to education, resources, and family planning (all of which Planned Parenthood provides much more often than abortions). If we were education our young people, including black folks, this discussion would likely not happen. If we educate young women (and men!) about how to protect themselves from pregnancy and infection AND empower them to have honest conversations with their partners, parents, and friends, unplanned pregnancy, STD infection rates, and abortions would all drastically reduce in numbers!
Lets get real, here, people! We need comprehensive Sex Ed in Ga! Who's with me!!